Wednesday, October 9, 2013

Cherating - Turtle Sanctuary (Media Trip 2013)

East coast of Peninsular Malaysia is famous for its beaches. In fact, so famous are they that even turtles choose these sandy beaches as their spots for laying eggs and one of them is the Cherating beach. During nesting seasons, female turtles would come ashore, usually at night, to lay eggs. They would first dig a deep, wide hole where their eggs will be placed in it before covering back the hole with sands. When all these are done, which usually takes more than 3 hours, they would leave their offspring to hatch, and later, to fend for themselves when they venture into open water.

Turtle Sanctuary in Cherating, Pahang

Such are some of the information you can obtain when you make a visit to the Pusat Penerangan dan Konservasi Penyu (Turtle Sanctuary) in Cherating, Pahang, one of the many programs prepared for us in this 3 days 2 nights Cherating media trip 2013. In the state of Pahang, this sanctuary is one of the two state government-endorsed centers (the other being in Tioman Island) where you can brush up your knowledge on these delicate creatures.

You can never guess such a simple kampong house is the center itself

We were amazed by the numbers of turtles under the care of the center when we toured around the facility. You can see both adult as well as babies turtles swimming around the pools, mingling among themselves. These endangered animals are well taken care of to protect them from becoming extinct. Besides turtles, the sanctuary also houses some terrapins, another sea creature widely sought after for traditional medical purposes.

Baby turtles swimming leisurely

The adults are in a separate pool so not to harm the babies

There is also an audio visual room where you can watch videos of these sea animals to learn more about them as well as how the sanctuary functions. There is no entrance fee but donations are much appreciated. For more information, you can call Mr. Haji Abdul Karim b. Mohd. Sham, the person-in-charge of this sanctuary at 019-9888646.

This trip is made possible thanks to the peoples of M-Mode Berhad, Santai Travel, Tourism Malaysia and The Legend Resort Cherating.

*TO BE CONTINUED*

Sharing is caring. A word of advice and a piece of information.

The Turtle Sanctuary opens on Tuesdays to Sundays, from 9.00 a.m. to 4.30 p.m. and closes on Mondays and public holidays. The center does not open for night visits anymore as the state government no longer allow the operations to avoid disturbing the animals.